Two Minute Torah Podcast

Tzav 5769 by Rabbi Julie Roth

Inspired by The Bedside Torah: Wisdom, Visions, Dreams by Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson.

On the day of my ordination as a rabbi, in an auditorium filled with ascending rows of folding theatre-style chairs, together with my classmates, teachers, family and friends we conducted a sacred ceremony with singing, the teaching of Torah, and the transfer of authority from generation to generation. At the centerpiece, a tallit, bearing the emblem of the burning bush where God first called out to Moses, was dramatically unfolded and draped on my shoulders. How would that moment have felt different if instead the Dean had dipped her hand in the blood of a recently sacrificed animal and put that very blood on the ridge of my right ear, the thumb of my right hand, and the big toe of my right foot?

In this week's Torah portion, Parshat Tzav, a vivid, bloody picture is painted of the various types of sacrifices to be offered in the wilderness by Aaron, the High Priest, and his sons. The Torah also describes the ordination and consecration of the altar and the priests over the course of an elaborate seven days. As a part of these elaborate ceremonies, Moses takes some of the sacrificial blood and smears it on the ear, thumb, and big toe of the Priests.

Why was the blood applied to these particular parts of the body and why was the blood applied to their bodies at all? What is the possible symbolism of ears, for example, instead of eyes or the mouth? According to Philo, an ancient Jewish philosopher, the priests had to be “pure in words and actions and in life; for words are judged by hearing, the hand is the symbol of action, and the foot of the pilgrimage of life.” Indeed, all of us have judged the worthiness of our role models, mentors, and leaders by their actual actions and not just their words. President Obama will be measured by his ability to put his message of change into action. And powerfully, leaders of a community are valued not only for their actions at a given moment in time, but for their actions of a period of time, for the journey they take through life. These two points seem self-evident from Philo's words; the Torah's choice of the hands and the feet makes sense.

But, it seems that we often expect our leaders to have vision, to be able to see the path we should take moving forward and to be able to speak inspiring words. Why does the Torah choose the ears, instead of the eyes or the mouth? Perhaps because true communal leadership requires listening, not only to the needs of the People, but to the truth and inspiration that transcends our everyday lives. Here the medieval commentator ibn Ezra adds that the ear specifically symbolizes that the leader must follow what God has commanded. Finally, Rabbi Bradley Artson suggests that the ears, thumbs, and toes symbolize our whole bodies. The Torah teaches us that “service to one's highest ideals, to one's people, or to one's God, must be total.

In placing the sacrificial blood on their bodies, the priests were also making the traditions they were keeping fully a part of themselves. This is something all of us can do at our Passover seders as we actively participate in the retelling of the story of our Exodus from Egypt. Just as each family in Egypt was required to put blood on the doorpost of their own house in order to be redeemed, we have the opportunity to actively participate in the retelling of the story of Passover in a way that makes it a part of us. In this way we become, all of us, a nation of priests celebrating true freedom. Chag Sameach! Happy Passover!